What he wanted was a music career. What he needed was love.
When Kris Golding leaves his dusty Kansas hometown for a fresh start in New York, he thinks an apartment and a job are waiting for him. But when he finds neither, rather than admit defeat, he takes his chances busking—and meets Rayne Bakshi of international rock band The Chokecherries. Rayne needs a new guitarist, and gives Kris his first break since leaving home.

Rayne wears makeup and glitter and thinks nothing of kissing Kris in front of twenty thousand screaming fans for the attention. Instantly infatuated, Kris begins to question whether he might have a crush on Rayne—could he be bisexual? But since Kris originally claimed to be straight, Rayne’s wary of getting involved offstage.

As their tour gains momentum, Kris’s sexuality becomes the least of his troubles. Between his conservative brother hell-bent on “rescuing” him from his life of debauchery, a peacock that may or may not be the avatar of a cult god, and a publicity stunt that threatens to upend the band, Kris is definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Hi, I’m Arden Powell. I’m here to share writing tips, anecdotes, and behind-the-scenes notes about my new release, A Summer Soundtrack for Falling in Love. Comment on my blog tour for a chance to win a $20 Amazon.com gift card!

A Guest Post from Arden Powell

Writing Diversity in Romance

So you want to write a novel—maybe even a romance novel!—and you’ve decided to commit to this diversity thing. You don’t want to write a cast of exclusively cisgender white men, whether they’re gay or straight, because that’s not just not reflective of the real world. (Or, indeed, of any world I want to live in.) But how do you write a cast like that—a diverse, realistic cast with a whole spectrum of races, genders, and sexualities—without accidentally stereotyping anyone, or swerving out of your lane and stepping on #ownvoices’ authors toes? Here are some things I kept in mind while writing A Summer Soundtrack for Falling in Love, which features several races, genders, and sexualities that aren’t my own. I’m told the results weren’t terrible, and therefore I’m clearly qualified to give advice.

Remember that you have options. You don’t HAVE to make everyone white and cis unless you really want to. My main character, Kris Golding, is—but my ENTIRE CAST isn’t. And there’s a bit where Kris wonders if he’s cis at all, so like. Options!

Be diverse, but stay in your lane. I’m white: I’m not going to write from a black POV and talk about systemic racism. I can be as sympathetic as I want, but I haven’t experienced that myself, and there are black writers who can tell that story better.

Read books by diverse authors. Read #ownvoices stuff. Go see how wild and diverse the world really is! Learn about other cultures! Watch foreign films and documentaries! There are so many different authors out there writing about so many different things—don’t limit yourself. Learning new things is cool.

Get a sensitivity reader. Get several. Get as many as you need! I used two for Summer Soundtrack: one for Rayne Bakshi, my Indian/Persian rock star love interest, and one for Angel, my black trans club owner/makeup artist. I’m not Persian, and I’m not black, or a trans girl. I went in knowing I needed sensitivity readers—or, if you prefer to think of them this way: accuracy readers. If they give you feedback, LISTEN TO IT. You will look endlessly foolish if you don’t, and you will have to sit in the Shame Corner until you learn from your mistakes.

Have empathy. You’re not writing diversely to earn a gold star. You’re writing about other identities because they’re people too, and they deserve to see themselves in fiction as much as the next person. I don’t want to live in a world populated entirely by cis white men. Some people do want that world, and they’re fighting for it. They’re going to lose, of course, but in the meantime, romance—the genre of hope and love and happy endings—shouldn’t reflect what they want.

Still not sure? I mean, no one’s actually going to MAKE YOU write diversely. White authors writing white characters isn’t going to go away anytime soon. Maybe you can’t think of a reason to make one of your characters POC, or non-binary, or bi instead of gay. In that case, you just need to ask yourself one thing: is there any reason they SHOULDN’T be? No one questions why the lead of every single Hollywood blockbuster is straight and white. Does that really add anything to the plot? Do we really NEED another ruggedly handsome white dude taking up our time? The answer lies within your heart. My heart, personally, said nah.

About Arden Powell

Arden Powell graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with an Honours degree in English literature and the realization that essay writing is just another form of making up stories. They also came away with an overriding and all-abiding love of semicolons, to the general dismay of their editors.

Arden lives in Ontario with a dog, a fellow human, and an unnecessary number of houseplants.

To celebrate the release of A Summer Soundtrack for Falling in Love, one lucky person will win a $20 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 2, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following along, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Note: This ARC was provided by Montlake Romance in exchange for an honest review.I stood at the window, already knowing Elliott would be out of sight. He was different—more than just odd—but he had found me. And for the moment, I liked not feeling lost.All the Little Lights is a young adult (YA) novel penned by bestselling author Jamie McGuire, and it isn't your usual YA romance read either. Unsurprisingly, McGuire has weaved a tale of two young people who find their way to each other only to be forced apart by circumstances beyond their control. When they're both seventeen, Elliott Youngblood forges the journey back to the tiny town of Oak Creek, Oklahoma to keep a promise he made to Catherine Calhoun. It's a promise she believed he broke two years prior, at a time when she needed the one person she believed she could lean on most. Elliott may very well convince Catherine to forgive him and give him another chance to get close to her, but while there are parts of them tha…

Wake Up Call(Porthkennack #1)by JL Merrow Date Released: April 17, 2017Riptide PublishingAbout Wake Up Call
South London mechanic Devan Thompson has gone to Porthkennack to track down someone he’s been waiting all his life to know. But Dev’s distracted from his quest by Kyle, a broodingly handsome local of only a few months, who’s already got a reputation as an alcoholic because of his strange behaviour—including a habit of collapsing in the street.
Kyle Anthony fled to Porthkennack to escape from the ruins of his life. Still raging against his diagnosis of narcolepsy—a condition that’s cost him his job as a barrister, his lover, and all chance of normality—the last thing he wants is another relationship that’s doomed to fail. But Dev’s easy-going acceptance and adaptability, not to mention his good looks, have Kyle breaking all his self-imposed rules.
When disaster strikes Dev’s adored little sister, Kyle steps up to the plate, and Dev sees a side of his lover he wasn’t prepared for: …

Note: This ARC was provided by the author via Vibrant Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

And the Beagle Makes Three is my first Geoffrey Knight read, and it turned out to be quite a surprising one. This tale about a widower and single father named Stuart Summerfield and his eight-year-old son, Atticus, was both moving and entertaining. It's been eleven months since Stu lost his wife Claire, and while life has gone on for them, with the boy finding solace in the company of his beloved beagle named Digby, it takes a call from Atty's school to have Stu wonder just how okay his son is doing. Maybe a visit to his sister-in-law and her family will do the trick, even if Stu isn't exactly all that enthused at the prospect. Atty is his top priority, after all. But will the reception and surprises leave this father and son feeling hopeless or hopeful for life moving forward?

This is the kind of read that you can get through and enjoy in about an hour's time, and while i…